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Material Culture

Suffrage, Sustainability, Sewing: One Dress Tells Many Stories

Our feature for International Women’s Day stands for all we believe in at Visuology – slow fashion, sustainable design, social discourse, female entrepreneurial instinct and expert craftsmanship. Instead of creating collections for 2017 and 2018, Lucy Tammam, founder of Atelier Tammam, decided to make just one dress: “I wanted to do a project that brought […]

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Raw Talent and Retro Texture at Collect Craft Fair

No one would have guessed that the Great Pottery Throw Down would make for compelling television entertainment, let alone that BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour would be running its own craft competition to celebrate the programme’s 70th anniversary. Likewise, few could have anticipated the rise and rise of craft, at a time when ‘authenticity’ is everywhere, […]

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You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970 at the V&A

The V&A’s new show is much more than just an exhibition – it’s an emotional journey, and a truly mind-blowing experience. Give yourself at least half a day to see this, as there is so much to take in, including news stories, sociology, fashion, films, music, art, design and material culture. The history of this […]

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Seasonal Summer Sparkle: Bubbles of Iridescence

Everyone seems rather down. Perhaps we are in need of some seasonal cheer to counteract the debilitating post-Brexit doldrums? In Britain, the most popular way of pepping up summer events is with strawberries and champagne: So let’s look at the bubbles appearing everywhere from kitchens to catwalks. Suspended bubble lamps of the type popularized by Tom Dixon have been in vogue […]

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Fibre Footwear in Fashion: Sustainable Straw Shoes

Espadrilles and shoes with woven natural fibre soles have been in and out of fashion for nearly a hundred years and are currently having a major revival. The biggest grass shoe of the moment has to be Egg’s beetlecrusher, made from natural rush. The designer price may preclude a rush to newly relocated Dover Street […]

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Body Shape: Food, Fetishism and Fashion

No one bats an eyelid if you mention bums, boobs, or any other ‘b’ words describing ‘sexualized’ parts of the anatomy today. It was different in Victorian times, which is why the word bustle was invented. Victorians were as obsessed with their bodies as we are now. Women wore bustles with corsets to fill out the rump […]

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China Tea Connection: History, Culture, Ceremony and Craft

Everything is connected. People say the world is getting smaller, but external cultural influences have inspired tastes in food, style, art and design for as long as man has travelled. In China, tea has been drunk for millennia, but the art of drinking tea is a culture all of its own. Gonfu Cha, the Chinese tea ceremony means “making […]

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Visuology Magazine: The Food of Life Issue

Visuology Magazine – The Food of Life Issue – is out now. We’ve given the magazine a makeover for Issue 4, with a redesign by our new Art Director, Harriet Bedder. This issue also sees contributions from new Trend Features Editor, Sally Angharad, and Assistant Features Editor, Bronte Naylor-Jones. The restyled magazine is divided into four sections: collecting, making, giving and […]

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Textile Conservation for V and A’s The Fabric of India Exhibition

Billed as the highlight of the V&A’s India Season, The Fabric of India will be the first major exhibition to explore the dynamic and multifaceted world of handmade Indian textiles from the 3rd to the 21st century. The show will feature over 200 pieces including an 18th century tent, ceremonial and religious cloths, textiles created for […]

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